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Irina Marchenko

G20's Young Entrepreneurs are Increasingly Interested in Digital Technologies but not H... - 0 views

www.prnewswire.com/...opment-policies-211810751.html

Entrepreneur Summit Young

shared by Irina Marchenko on 05 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • Irina Marchenko on 05 Aug 13
     
    The recommendations summarized in a final Summit communique primarily focus on the following: *Need to develop digital infrastructure. Young entrepreneurs are the most active group in terms of both starting up businesses and using the latest digital technology to help run the business and optimize business processes; *Importance of developing educational programs for entrepreneurs, advancing the entrepreneurial culture, and streamlining government funding for "green" technology studies; *Need to ease the tax burden in the fields of scientific-technical programs and social entrepreneurship, namely the taxes imposed on employers and employee income tax; *Access to funding for startups and emerging companies. Ensuring funding on easy terms, changing banking requirements, developing rules for new forms of funding, including cross border online platforms, investors' and entrepreneurs' networks.
Maria Gurova

Developed world plays waiting game with mobile payments - FT.com - 0 views

www.ft.com/...cb-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html

Economy financial services mobile banking mobile payments Digital vs Physical mobile wallet Emerging Economy Financial Inclusivity Technology

shared by Maria Gurova on 15 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • High-profile mobile money launches by Apple and Samsung may have caught the headlines
  • But it is the developments in payments systems in supposedly less developed nations in Africa and Asia that point the way to the probable future for wider mobile banking.
  • the reality remains that the mobile phone as a means of payment remains relatively niche even in developed markets.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • In the UK, for example, just 1 per cent
  • But analysts anticipate a further shift as more financial services and greater interactivity are added, which is when mobile payments will become mobile banking.
  • the mobile phone is taking on extra roles as a place to keep money safe and move it around, as well as to acquire other financial services from trusted providers.
  • services are quickly expanding to include loan disbursement, bill payment and micro insurance.
  • In the next few years mobile banking apps will become the predominant means to access all routine banking services, from applying for a loan or overdraft increase to letting the bank know you are moving house
  • So while we are working closely with digital giants such as Apple, Samsung and Google to roll out their payment services, we’re also working with the banks to create their own payment functionality embedded within their existing hugely popular banking apps
  • Maria Gurova on 15 Oct 15
     
    The article is about a shifting consumer behaviour in mobile payments and that it's not driven by developed economies with the established finical systems but rather by the emerging regions, like Africa and Asia 
alexbelov

Microsoft is bringing bots to Skype - and everywhere else | TechCrunch - 0 views

techcrunch.com/...s-to-skype-and-everywhere-else

bots skype microsoft Technology

shared by alexbelov on 05 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • Microsoft’s own virtual assistant Cortana, aim to help pave the way for the future of communication, productivity, and interactions with businesses and brands.
  • In Skype, the company showed off rich Cortana integration which put the assistant directly into the app where she could help users do things like identify the persons, places and things in your messages, underline them, and then display more info in a card-like interface when clicked.
  • She is also able to help you perform a variety of tasks, like adding items to your calendar, booking travel or hotel rooms, or even pre-populating conversations to friends with text.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The bots’ integration in Skype is rolling out today on Windows, iOS and Android as a preview.
  • The company launched the first-ever Skype Bot SDK, which lets brands, businesses and other third parties create their own bots that can work on Skype, seamlessly integrating into users’ chats. These aren’t just text bots, as many of the SMS-based virtual assistance startups we’ve seen so far – Skype bots can introduce both audio and video experiences
  • The company is also launching a bot directory, giving us a brief peek at a few bots it had created itself.
  • Bots “represent a huge opportunity to write new types of applications,” Nadella told developers
  • alexbelov on 05 Apr 16
     
    Microsoft jumps bots bandwagon by introducing bots ecosystem in skype, which includes bot development kit, bot framework and bot directory.
evgeny lavrov

LEGO.com Parents Child Development : Conflict Play - 0 views

parents.lego.com/...conflict-play

lego parents KE development conflict

shared by evgeny lavrov on 01 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • research shows that even very young children understand the distinction. Kids as young as four or five years old understand that it’s against the rules to turn aggressive play into real aggression.
  • As they grow older, children begin to develop an understanding of good and evil
  • Youngsters between the ages of 6 and 7 can better interpret characters’ emotions and motivations
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • even in the absence of information about the character’s past.
  • The age of 8 has been identified as a watershed at which children become measurably more likely to act out aggressions after watching violent behavior on television
  • . The children recognize that in the real world it’s impossible to fly without a plane or to be born with skin that deflects bullets. 
  • By age 10 or 11, children will make fairly complex judgments about characters’ motivations and they regularly distinguish between justified and unjustified violence
  • One study also found that if you ask children between the ages of eight and ten who they most want to be like, they are far more likely to cite superhero type characters than everyday folks like their parents.
  • but conflict play continues to provide a unique transitional space for children to explore and express their own tensions
  • We also aim to develop conflict play scenarios where children can experience the benefits of cooperation. With the fate of the world (or even the entire universe) hanging in the balance, children must learn how to build teams, trust in others and work together towards common goals. In those pretend situations, developing social skills may be the only way to overcome the lords of evil!
Maria Gurova

Pixar Vets Reinvent Speech Recognition So It Works for Kids | WIRED - 0 views

www.wired.com/...toytalk

Technology entertainment KE social Play kids learning VIVO inactive interface voice recognition play patterns transformative

shared by Maria Gurova on 26 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Though characters like Woody and Buzz Lightyear are wonderfully realistic and lovable, the relationship that kids have with them is largely one-sided. Kids can hear these characters talk—not only through movies, but games, toys, and other movie merchandise—but they can’t engage them.
  • It was this idea that inspired Jacob to team up with his former Pixar colleague, Martin Reddy, and launch a new company, ToyTalk. The San Francisco-based outfit develops mobile games that let kids have conversations with animated characters—dialogues that can last for hours
  • Known as PullString, it’s equal parts speech recognition engine and script writing tool, and it’s quite a departure from other speech rec tools developed by the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Apple. It’s tailored specifically to kids, whose sentence structure, pitch, and vocal tone have posed challenges for traditional tools.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Kids don’t want to ask a monkey character in a game what the weather will be on Tuesday. They want to sing him a song or ask him about life in the zoo.
  • But as he points out, the way today’s children use technology will likely dictate the tech landscape for decades to come. If you can get kids hooked on speech technology young, they’ll stay with it forever.
  • “The way kids talk and communicate is very different from how adults do, both in terms of how they use language and the fundamental frequencies that come out of their throats,
  • While ToyTalk uses existing third party technology for its raw speech recognition, it works with those partners to develop better recognition models using ToyTalk’s own data. Now, ToyTalk has a trove of some 20 million children’s utterances, which Jacob believes is the largest database of kids conversation in the world
  • “Virtual assistants are awesome when they can answer every question. In our case, it’s the opposite,” Jacob says. “I have to know a lot of things that I’m not able to answer, and redirect the conversation to something that is within character.”
  • And Jacob says some toy companies are already testing PullString to power apps based on existing characters.
  • this technology could give kids a whole new way to play that falls somewhere in between the playground and the imaginary friend. “I think at some deep level if we succeed, we’ll inspire the imagination of kids to talk about things they might not otherwise talk about,”
  • Maria Gurova on 26 Sep 14
     
    the voice rec technology developed by ex-Pixar guy that is targeted to kids. It considers all nuances of kids speech behavior and analyses millions of kids conversations to make interaction with favorite characters within all possible media truly engaging
alexbelov

Facebook's Messenger Bot Store could be the most important launch since the App Store |... - 0 views

techcrunch.com/...books-messenger-in-a-bot-store

chatbots messaging technology Social

shared by alexbelov on 17 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • Today, Facebook Messenger has 800 million monthly active users – more than 100 times the number of iPhone owners when Apple launched the App Store. Messenger’s current active user base exceeds even the total number of iPhones ever sold. Messaging apps now have more active users than social networks.
  • If and when Facebook announces a Bot Store, it will mark the “end of the beginning” of a new era: messaging as a platform. Conversational user interfaces are about to change the way billions of users interact with the world around them.
  • Pavel Durov announced the expansion of the Telegram Bot Store and Ted Livingston staked out Kik’s claim to be the WeChat of the West. By the end of the year, Slack had announced the Slack App Directory, supported by an $80 million fund to fuel the growth of the ecosystem, and Google was rumored to be developing its own chatbots.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • 2016 would be “the year of conversational commerce”, but the Messenger bot platform will inevitably extend far beyond commerce.
  • alexbelov on 17 Mar 16
     
    Facebook is developing chatbot platform for its messenger. It will open new opportunities for online businesses, including conversational commerce. Message bots will become new apps and challenge existing industries.
al_semenchenko

Smartypants: the fart-filtering future of underwear | Art and design | The Guardian - 0 views

www.theguardian.com/...f-underwear-fashion-technology

Technology underwear future

shared by al_semenchenko on 20 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • The term “enhancing underwear” might summon images of go-go-gadget pants that help you run faster and jump higher, but it actually refers to a new breed of briefs that promise you a bigger bulge. Push-up bras and “butt-lifters” have long been a staple of women’s lingerie aisles, but genital scaffolding has now spread to menswear. Featured in the V&A exhibition, the “Wonderjock” is the work of Australian company AussieBum and aims to do for men’s bits what the Wonderbra did for women’s busts – hoisting them up and thrusting them out.
  • US army researchers have developed smart underwear, with sensors secreted inside elastic waistbands that track heart rate, body temperature and perspiration, and beam the stats back to a central monitor. This “wear-and-forget” sensory system is also designed for stressful training situations, identifying which soldiers remain more balanced, so they can be picked for the harder missions.
  • Underwear is already a common place for smuggling drugs of the illegal variety, but a recent pharmaceutical innovation could soon make putting pills in your pants a legitimate activity. Swiss textile giant Schoeller has developed a fabric that administers drugs to the surface of your skin over time, and thinks the best place to put it is in your undies – as those are the garments you’re least likely to forget to put on.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • A more practical innovation comes from British manufacturer Shreddies, which has developed flatulence-filtering underwear, allowing you to “fart with confidence”. Their magic farty pants incorporate a layer of Zorflex, a microporous carbon-based material more commonly used in chemical warfare.
Maria Gurova

Using ToyTalk Technology, New Hello Barbie Will Have Real Conversations With Kids | Fas... - 1 views

www.fastcompany.com/...-will-have-real-conversations-

Technology Play KE entertainment learning mattel barbie market speech recognition Toys

shared by Maria Gurova on 16 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Maria Gurova on 16 Feb 15
     
    I've posted earlier about this ToyTalk company, they are founded by the guy who worked at Pixar for 20 years. The company develops the speech recognition technology, signed their first deal with a big toy company - Mattel. They are going to develop Barbie doll that will be able to sustain meaningful conversations with kids
Anna Dubinina

Looking at supersonic airliners - 0 views

edition.cnn.com/...index.html

Technology CIS plane concorde travel transportation air travel supersonic aircraft Transformative

shared by Anna Dubinina on 05 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • The latest new concept design is called Skreemr, which -- if developed -- supposedly would carry 75 passengers from London to New York in 30 minutes
  • unlike rockets, scramjet engines would burn oxygen from the atmosphere instead of having to carry heavy tanks full of oxygen
  • A hybrid rocket and jet engine is being developed by Reaction Engines with joint funding by the UK and BAE Systems, which could one day lead to a new supersonic airliner
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Aerion is developing a $110 million, 12-passenger business jet capable of hitting Mach 1.6 -- or close to 2,000 kilometers per hour
  • Expected delivery of this new supersonic plane: 2022.
Oleg Batluk

Studio Wildcard: 'We're the anti-eSports eSport' | Develop - 0 views

www.develop-online.net/...0220445

social eSport gaming VR

shared by Oleg Batluk on 31 May 16 - No Cached
  • Multiplayer Online Survival Arena – is something the team believes offers a truly unique experience.
  • ost eSports are really regimented, there are rules you have to know to play the game and there is a much more different mindset behind a controlled match. Whereas for us, there’s not really rules – it’s a sandbox and anything can happen.
  • In our first three tournaments, we watched a lot of people get killed by monkeys and piranhas, and there were all sorts of random things happening. And yet the same person won all three tournaments – for us, that validated everything because there’s obviously a skill to being prepared for whatever scenario happens
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • t’s much more entertaining to watch a sport like this where you don’t have to know what the rules are
  • We’re starting some VR projects around Ark
  • Oleg Batluk on 31 May 16
     
    Multiplayer Online Survival Arena is a new eSport concept with tournament with no fixed rules where anything can happen
Maria Gurova

Driverless cars, pilotless planes … will there be jobs left for a human being... - 3 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...rs-pilotless-planes-jobs-human

robotics Technology Social KE CIS employment expertise jobs big data wicked issues wellbeing

shared by Maria Gurova on 13 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • From staff-free ticket offices to students who can learn online, it seems there is no corner of economic life in which people are not being replaced by machines.
  • One of the reasons Google is investing so much is that whoever owns the communications system for driverless cars will own the 21st century's equivalent of the telephone network or money clearing system: this will be a licence to print money.
  • The only new jobs will be in the design and marketing of the cars, and in writing the computer software that will allow them to navigate their journeys, along with the apps for our mobile phones that will help us to use them better
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The invention of 3D printing, in which every home or office will be equipped with an in-house printer that can spew out the goods we want – from shoes to pills – anticipates a world of what Summers calls automated "doers". They will do everything for us, eliminating the need for much work.
  • we have come to the end of the great "general purpose technologies" (technologies that transform an entire economy, such as the steam engine, electricity, the car and so on) that changed the world. There are no new transformative technologies to carry us forward, while the old activities are being robotised and automated.
  • Notwithstanding robotisation and automation, I identify four broad areas in which there will be vast job opportunities.The first is in micro-production
  • The second is in human wellbeing. There will be vast growth in advising, coaching, caring, mentoring, doctoring, nursing, teaching and generally enhancing capabilities.
  • The third is in addressing the globe's "wicked issues" . There will be new forms of nutrition and carbon-efficient energy, along with economising with water, to meet the demands of a world population of 9 billion in 2050.
  • And fourthly, digital and big data management will foster whole new industries
  • the truth is, nobody knows. What we do know is that two-thirds of what we consume today was not invented 25 years ago. It will be the same again in a generation's time
  • Maria Gurova on 13 Jun 13
     
    demand for the new expertise may impact not only the school and academic education, but earlier development stages
Maria Gurova

Animated 'Art Story' Film Looks Painfully Adorable (VIDEO, PHOTOS) - 1 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...art-story-film_n_3645627.html

KE entertainment kickstarter animation storytelling

shared by Maria Gurova on 29 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • Maria Gurova on 29 Jul 13
     
    Two ex-Disney animators turned to Kickstarter to raise funds fro their independent animated feature. Depending on how much you are ready to donate you can have your say in the development of the story
Maria Gurova

Hand Gestures Could Make Kids Smarter | TIME.com - 0 views

healthland.time.com/...stures-could-make-kids-smarter

learning kids gestures science

shared by Maria Gurova on 22 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • Using hand gestures may be important for more than just making a point; they could help children to learn.
  • Once something is learned, however, it’s a challenge to unlearn and inhibit the reflexive response. That’s why it helps to develop good habits early
  • It’s easier to learn something correctly the first time than it is to unlearn ineffective techniques and relearn better ones.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • During the task, some of the children instinctively used gestures — making rabbit ears when they knew shape mattered, or moving their palms from facing up to turning sideways when they were sorting by the teddy bear’s orientation — to guide themselves.
  • What’s more, she found that this effect had a stronger effect on successful performance than age — a powerful finding given that children’s skills improve rapidly with age during this stage of development.
  • The toddlers’ gestures could be interpreted as a glimpse of their brains at work, as they figure out how to exert the cognitive control necessary to complete their tasks.
  • Earlier work showed that older children were better able to learn math if taught to use gestures while doing so. And they often found the right answer physically — for example, by making movements to signify the numbers that needed to be kept together to add correctly — before finding it verbally
  • That has implications for improving the way we communicate and think, and could help to address developmental disorders associated with cognitive control issues, such as autism
Maria Gurova

Якунин предложил потратить триллионы на «Транс-Евразийский пояс развития»: Го... - 0 views

lenta.ru/...megaproject

Political transportation infrastructure RZHD Market Fortress propaganda Russia Russian mentality Corruption

shared by Maria Gurova on 03 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • Чтобы стать цивилизационным центром на евроазиатском континенте, России нужно реализовать масштабный проект под названием «Транс-Евразийский пояс развития» (ТЕПР).
  • западные страны навязывают России чуждые ей ценности, в частности, развитие экономики ради улучшения количественных показателей. В рамках такой модели развития Россия теряет присущие ей духовность и нравственность, отметил глава РЖД
  • руководитель монополии отмечал, что финансово-экономический кризис, через который сегодня проходит мир, является в том числе кризисом нравственным. По его словам, создание нового геополитического экономического кластера, которым может стать «Транс-Евразийский пояс развития», позволит преодолеть этот кризис
  • Maria Gurova on 03 Aug 15
     
    developing road infrastructure as a way to fight for the Russian moral values and standards of living 
Maria Gurova

2 | Samsung Introduces A Wearable Health Tracker That Geeks and Insurance Companies Wil... - 0 views

www.fastcompany.com/...-tracker-that-geeks-and-insura

wearable health tracker Technology samsung big data

shared by Maria Gurova on 29 May 14 - No Cached
  • The popularity of wearable health trackers, such as Fitbit, Jawbone UP, and Nike FuelBand, have created a problem
  • Hardly anyone has developed algorithms that derive actionable insights from the data that your body generates, and the dashboards are separate
  • Samsung is not planning to release a wearable health monitor to consumers, but expects other developers to build on the reference design shown today.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • In a study conducted with the University of Chicago involving 15 patients who had experienced heart failure, sensors and predictive analysis were able to detect early signs of heart problems
  • Though Samsung will still compete on a consumer level, the data on its platform could ramp up its business serving health care professionals.
  • "big data to small data, and small data to insights that people can understand--that are actionable,"
  • Maria Gurova on 29 May 14
     
    Samsung is trying to find a solution on how to interpret the big data collected from the health tracking wearable devices 
Olga Bykova

Supporters | Happy Planet Index - 0 views

www.happyplanetindex.org/supporters

happiness index economic GDP

shared by Olga Bykova on 06 Aug 14 - No Cached
  • Olga Bykova on 06 Aug 14
     
    Everyone accepts that GDP alone cannot tell us anything of substance about how we are doing as a species. It tells us nothing of the state of our planet, or the wellbeing of its people. It is simply an indiscriminate measurement of economic activity. The Happy Planet Index is a step towards developing alternatives.
Maria Gurova

Should You Trust Big Pharma With Your DNA? | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/-you-trust-big-pharma-your-dna

Technology big data DNA Health customisation personalisation personal data Political legal Medicine security identity theft

shared by Maria Gurova on 07 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • In January, the biotech company Genentech reportedly committed $10 million for access to the DNA of 3,000 Parkinson’s patients and their families. A week later, Pfizer made a similar deal for the genomes of 5,000 people with lupus.
  • A trove of data could give scientists the tools they need to develop gene-specific drug therapies for certain diseases. “We are hoping to ultimately develop Parkinson’s medicines, for example, that actually modify the disease as opposed to just treating symptoms,”
  • “this has the possibility of not only helping us find new cures, but it also helps us create a genuine health care system as opposed to just a disease care system.”
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Even a small segment of DNA (23andMe looks at 750,000 base pairs out of 3 billion) can reveal a history of illness or predict future risks and be used
  • The 2009 Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act makes it illegal for employers or health insurance companies to discriminate based on genetic data. The Act doesn’t address who controls data once it’s out there
alexbelov

Reality Substitution Project is a Unique Approach to Virtual Reality | Virtual Reality ... - 0 views

www.virtualrealitytimes.com/...reality-substitution

virtual reality substitution technology Ecosystem VR Technology

shared by alexbelov on 13 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Reality Substitution Project is a Unique Approach to Virtual Reality
  • The tech project, named RealiSM, has developed a user-friendly virtual world capture system that effectively shoots actual videos of real-world situations, and these videos are to be generated as virtual content on a supported head-mounted display (HMD).
  • Initially developed for the medical field, RealiSM aims to be utilized in the laboratory to facilitate research of the human memory and the peri-personal space (perceived space available to a person within his reach).
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • This is how things get interesting for the RealiSM project: the prototype works as an integrated video recording, editing, and playback system – all working hand in hand to generate what they call reality substitution. A custom-built camera rig, consisting of 18 high-definition cameras which are pointed in all directions, seamlessly shoots a 360-degree spherical imagery that is stitched together in all three dimensions of space. These 18 high-def cameras are paired with 4 omnidirectional microphones, able to pick up sound from all directions relative to the prototype. The 3D spherical video capture is then processed and is rendered by a custom-built HMD that also features a front camera to orient the user’s presence in both the virtual and outside environments.
  • Aside from the usage focus of the prototype in the medical field, it is also seen as a potential tool for bringing immersive, real-time teleconferencing – bridging the gap caused by time zone issues between the two ends of the communication medium; and also to enhance entertainment experiences – particularly in games – by introducing extremely immersive and true-to-life visuals and audio experiences.
  • alexbelov on 13 Nov 15
     
    Reality substitution is a new approach to VR experience. The system  aptures videos of real world situations and generates VR content. The technology can be applied in medical research, therapy, gaming and teleconferencing.
Vladimir Antonov

Refugee camps are the "cities of tomorrow", says aid expert - 0 views

www.dezeen.com/...erview-humanitarian-aid-expert

refugee social Technology Economy environment segregation

shared by Vladimir Antonov on 26 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Governments should stop thinking about refugee camps as temporary places
  • "These are the cities of tomorrow,"
  • The average stay today in a camp is 17 years. That's a generation."
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • lack of willingness to recognise that camps had become a permanent fixture around the world
  • "We're doing humanitarian aid as we did 70 years ago after the second world war. Nothing has changed."
  • He believes that migrants coming into Europe could help repopulate parts of Spain and Italy that have been abandoned as people gravitate increasingly towards major cities
  • "Many places in Europe are totally deserted because the people have moved to other places," he said. "You could put in a new population, set up opportunities to develop and trade and work. You could see them as special development zones which are actually used as a trigger for an otherwise impoverished neglected area."
  • "It creates tons of jobs, even for those who are coming in now. Germany will come out of this crisis."
  • that aid organisations and governments needed to accept that new technologies like 3D printing could enable refugees and migrants to become more self-sufficient.
  • With a Fab Lab people could produce anything they need – a house, a car, a bicycle, generating their own energy, whatever
  • my god, these are just refugees, so why should they be able to do 3D-printing
  • We have to get away from the concept that, because you have that status – migrant, refugee, martian, alien, whatever – you're not allowed to be like everybody else.
  • Vladimir Antonov on 26 Nov 15
     
    Refugee camps are the "cities of tomorrow", says humanitarian-aid expert. The main idea is those people could be relocated to the abandoned areas in Europe and start a better life with their communities, but governments should provide them with these opportunities and stop thinking about those cities as permanent relocation places.
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